


This Day Will Last a Lifetime

by matan4il



Series: On Lockdown [2]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fairylights, Fluff, Lockdown Fic, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, fairylights kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25052440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matan4il/pseuds/matan4il
Summary: Christopher was singing. That's what wakes Buck up, though it's not immediately apparent to him what it was that lured him out of his dreams.OrTumblr prompt fill for a lovely friend, who asked for a day of lockdown for Buddie.(this fic is a continuation ofIt Will Last Longer, but can be read as a stand alone fic. All you have to know is that Buck, Eddie and Chris are spending lockdown together and Buddie got together during it, before the start of this fic...)
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: On Lockdown [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800199
Comments: 28
Kudos: 175





	This Day Will Last a Lifetime

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fireinbone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireinbone/gifts).



> Huge thanks to [The17Stairs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the17stairs/profile) and to [Toughpaperround](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToughPaperRound/pseuds/ToughPaperRound), who helped so much with this fic!
> 
> Gorgeous art by [Auddieliz09](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Auddieliz09/pseuds/Auddieliz09), thank you for this! 
> 
> If you want to prompt me as well, come send an ask on [my Tumblr](https://matan4il.tumblr.com/). Or just say hi or send some feedback, it’s always welcome! ;)

  
  


Christopher was singing. That's what wakes Buck up, though it's not immediately apparent to him what it was that lured him out of his dreams. 

Chris was singing and after a blurry moment or two of listening, Buck is pretty confident that both the faint lyrics, which he can't quite make out, and the sweet melody are made up. This precious little boy sounds so happy while singing it, which makes the tune into the best song ever if you were to ask Buck. Much like Christopher's drawings and greeting cards are the best art and Van Gogh can suck it. 

He listens to the singing with wonder. That boy is the epitome of everything Buck would want everyone to be and he includes himself in that. He's had days during this lockdown that haven't been great, as much as Buck knew they were doing the right thing by staying in. Chris had been exposed to the virus due to an asymptomatic teacher who showed up for work at his school and in turn, Eddie had to stay on lockdown with him. Even if he hadn't been exposed to the virus through his kid, he couldn't ask Abuela or Pepa to stay with his son when their immune system might be compromised and Carla had let him know in advance that her other patients made her a risk to a child with cerebral palsy, so she was out of the question anyway. Buck was hanging out with them enough that he was instructed to self-isolate as well and he let Eddie know right away that he'd be spending that time with them, so he could help out with Chris. 

They weren't together when Buck moved into the Diaz guestroom for however long this would turn out to be, but that has recently changed and the memory alone of their first night together makes him smile as he stretches out in Eddie's bed, enjoying Chris' singing. 

At some point, the singing has stopped and the emptiness of the bed forces him out of the far too relaxed way he's starting this day. True, they don't have any schedules per se, but for Christopher's sake, they have been trying to set a routine of sorts, where among other things, they all wake up for breakfast together. For some reason, Eddie let him sleep in and now that Buck is more awake, he tries to guess why after slipping out from between the sheet and putting on some clothes. Not much, but he can't walk out of the bedroom in his current state of complete nakedness just because they were too exhausted to put on even boxer briefs last night, after sex lulled them into a deep slumber in each other's arms. 

Once he's donned a pair of underwear, shorts and a t-shirt, Buck walks out and finds Eddie in the kitchen, about to start setting the table. 

"Oh good, you're up," he says, "I was about to come get you. Breakfast is ready." 

Buck smiles at that. It's simple, which is usually the case with Eddie, but still appetizing. "Do you need any help? You know I could have done more if you had woken me up..." 

"Yes, but you looked really tired before we fell asleep last night, I thought you probably should get some rest more than I needed help." He comes over, two plates in his hands with peanut butter and jelly spread over toasted bread, and pecks Buck on the lips. 

That's still new and if it hadn't been for the lockdown, it's anybody's guess how long it would have taken them to get here. But it's also natural and right, in a sense it feels like they've been here all along. Buck returns the peck and steals another one before Eddie moves away. 

Chris comes into the room, hands in his crutches, appearing to have been lured in by the smell of the toasted bread. "Are we having toast today?" he asks. "You didn't burn it this time, right?" And Buck smiles at this. Even though Eddie's meals are on the simpler side, he's not as terrible in the kitchen as his son makes him out to be, but the gentle teasing from Christopher is one that they both seem to enjoy. It tickles in Buck's chest, that Eddie lets his son rib him like that. 

"Yes, I did, I burned it into a pile of ashes and you're going to eat it all, mijo." It comes with a grin and Chris chuckles at it and takes his seat at the table. It takes him a minute or two to maneuver the crutches around so that they're safely resting against the table beside him while he's seated on his chair. Buck has seen Eddie countless times watching his son with a certain tension which says he's ready to spring into action at any second if Chris needs it, yet he doesn't interfere. Eddie gives him the independence that every child craves and the chance to see he can do things for himself no matter what his limitations might be. It's not easy for a parent in general to do it, but when it comes to CP, it's particularly hard. Buck has no idea how Eddie does it. The first few times when he had come over, he had almost caused a blunder by rushing in, only to be stopped by Eddie shaking his head at him and subtly signaling with his hand to drop it. Buck still has the urge to help out, even when he logically understands that it's better like this. He can only imagine how much harder it is for Eddie and admire him for it. 

"You comfortable there, buddy?" Chris nods contentedly as he picks up a piece of toast from the plate in front of him and starts to spread butter on it. "Buck, are you going to join us?" Eddie looks up at him warmly and of course Buck would, always. 

Breakfast is their usual chatter where Chris updates them on what dreams he's had that night, what they reminded him of and what he wants to do later that day. "I could start writing a book," he says with all seriousness. "About a kindergarten teacher. She's sick and her pupils go on an adventure to find her, make her well and bring her back to the classroom." 

"Oh, what illness is she suffering from, is it a really bad one?" Buck inquires. 

"You two, it sounds really exciting and I want to hear all about it, but before you start going off, writing the great American novel is going to have to wait a little. Because if we're talking about books, we have to completely rearrange yours on the shelves. The piles we have right now, all stacked on top of each other? Chris, how many times has it made it too difficult for us to find the one that you were interested in?" 

That gets the point across. Since they're basically done with breakfast, they all clean the table together, which doesn't take long, thanks to the uncomplicated nature of the food they'd consumed. They walk into Christopher's room together and alright, Eddie had a point. A lot of the books had been pulled out over time without being put back into their place and the piles of books lying on top of each other instead of standing in their designated spot has now grown so much that a lot of the shelves were actually empty. 

"Right," Buck announces immediately and with glee he didn't expect, "lucky for us, I'm actually familiar with the Dewey decimal system for book arrangement, which is the best one." 

"What are you talking about?" Eddie frowns. 

"Eds, it's what they use in libraries in order to sort books and locate them easily. It's really simple, you have a category, let's say sciences, which has a number, 500. Then every field of science has a more specific number, like Astronomy is 520 and Chemistry is 540. You figure out what each book is about and then you just organize them by their numbers, from smallest to biggest. So if you have a book about a mad scientist, who happens to be a chemist, you know that he'll be after a book about a little prince going on a journey among the stars. Easy!" 

All that gets Buck in return is a furrowed brow. "No, I don't think we should do that. Because, ummm. Unlike a library, I don't think we have enough books for that," Eddie says, while his expression screams that he's dating a crazy person, but he doesn't want to say that out loud next to his son. 

"Okay, Einstein," Buck crosses his arm indignantly, so what would you suggest instead?" 

"Well, we can go by author. Alphabetize everything by their last names, then we can find the books easily and we have all of them by the same writer in one place." 

"I'm not sure, Dad," Chris says, inspecting his shelves with grave seriousness. Buck gives his boyfriend a triumphant look and gets a scrunched up disgruntled expression in retaliation. He has to bite down on his lip in order to keep himself from bursting out with a joyous laughter. They're actually together. It took a global pandemic to make proper boyfriends out of them. Who would have thought? 

Not that Eddie can know what a mush soup Buck is turning into in the middle of a very important argument. "My system is better, right?" he asks Chris. 

"Mmmm," comes the response. "I think we should go by color." 

"By color?" They both ask in almost complete - and pretty surprised - unison. 

"I know every book's color and size. I'll tell you where to find what. And this way, the shelves will be pretty to look at." 

They exchange a look between the two of them. It's not an idea either of them has ever heard of before, but Christopher's tone is self assured and the truth is, if it makes him happy, there's no point trying to suggest alternatives. They'll just end up caving in anyway. 

"Alright," Eddie relents. "If you want to, we can do that. But it's a trial, mijo. If we see that it leads to too much confusion or because we don't know how to place the books back in, the piles start stacking up again, we'll try something else, is that clear?" 

Chris nods and his face lights up with the most dazzling of smiles. 

Buck grins at it. He's going to figure out how to say no to this kid one day, but he's happy he doesn't have to figure that one out yet. "Let's get to it, then!" he declares energetically and they start by taking out all the books that still were on the shelves. 

Eddie and Buck worked quickly and in sync, used to efficiently communicating through looks and body language from the job, which turns out even better than normal since it leaves very little for Chris to do and he doesn't have to tire himself out. 

"Are we doing height as well?" Buck asks Christopher since that was mentioned earlier. 

"Definitely," comes the resolute answer. 

"In that case, Buck, maybe you and I should start putting the tallest books in on the sides and then work our way in from there according to color?" Eddie suggests. 

Buck's surveying the naked shelves and the multitude of books, trying not to consider for too long how much time it would take to first sort them all by color. This is probably why Eddie made his suggestion, to give them anchor points and work from there. Not that Buck didn't know his boyfriend was great, but it turns out he might be an actual genius. No wonder, Chris does take after Eddie in a lot of ways and he's the smartest boy Buck's ever known. 

"I'm good with that, yeah. What do you say, little man?" 

They get Christopher's approval and start digging in, looking for the tallest books found in the piles, putting them along the edges of the shelves at an angle, so they wouldn't fall over. Once they have all the starting points covered, they pick up whichever books are randomly on top, trying to match them to the colors of the ones already on the shelves. Here and there, they get into a slight argument over the color of a certain book cover and once, it becomes more heated when they argue whether a particular book was a darker shade of pink or a light one of purple. Thankfully, Chris is good at being the ultimate arbiter and he resolves most disagreements before they have the chance to become real points of contention. 

When they're done, several hours later, they take a minute to inspect the result of their handiwork. They hadn't noticed it as they were putting things together, but they had unintentionally created a small rainbow across the shelves in Christopher's room and it's so apt that it takes Buck's breath away briefly. He thinks of the pride symbol, but more than that it strikes him what an eye for aesthetics Chris has. Eddie's been talking a lot about his son becoming a great writer one day, but who knows? Maybe he'll want to pursue art as well. There are so many possibilities open for him and his indomitable spirit, Buck can already see it from the way this little boy tackles challenges. Even the way he's carried on throughout this lockdown is unbelievable. Not that Chris didn't have moments when he was missing this friend or that one, not to mention craving simply going outside, but the attentiveness with which he listened to Eddie during those times, shared what he was feeling even when it was tough and the ease with which he embraced whatever comfort his dad could offer him left Buck in awe. 

An idea is born in his mind for what they can do for Chris after lunch. 

They prepare their meal together, Buck taking the lead and showing them what to do based on all the cooking lessons Bobby had given him. As it happens more often than not, it devolves a bit into messing around, especially when Chris goes near the flour, but eventually they finish cooking, as well as cleaning and get to eat the fruits of their labor. 

The chat around the table flows and Buck manages to hold his tongue regarding his surprise. It's made easier by Eddie's hand distracting him when here and there, it slips under the table and lies softly across his thigh. It's a comforting touch, one offering a connection and a reminder that he's not alone. There's something so grounding in the quiet way it warms him and Buck hasn't realized how much he's needed this. He's grateful that Eddie is obviously noticing that isolation hasn't been easy for him and that his boyfriend is being sensitive and supportive. 

In this comfortable ambience, they get through lunch and reach its end, signified by Eddie reminding Chris that he has homework to do. Ever since schools have been dispersed, most have had teachers hold zoom classes, but at Christopher's, with the special needs of its students, online teaching was deemed to be too ineffective. As a result, it was decided that a better option would be email assignments for the kids to resolve and submit back with the help of their parents. Eddie wasn't exactly thrilled about this plan since as an essential worker, if it hadn't been for his son's exposure to the virus discharging him from his job, he might not have been able to assist him sufficiently with his assignments. There's a hint of a frown on his face every time he considers this, which Buck easily identifies and smooths over by placing his own hand over his boyfriend's on his thigh. 

Eddie tells his son to go prepare his textbooks and the print out of the assignment he has to submit in two days. 

"Aren't you coming, Dad?" 

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute to help you, but only after I clear off the table together with Buck. He shouldn't do that alone, right?" 

Christopher nods, thanks them both for lunch and dutifully goes into his room. Eddie moves to start collecting the plates from the table, but Buck stops the movement, holding his finger up in front of his mouth to ask for silence, his eyes trained on the corridor. When the sound of Christopher's crutches is swallowed behind a closed door, Buck looks back at Eddie. 

"Okay, I have an awesome plan for what we can do with Chris as a reward after he's done with his homework, but I want it to be a secret," he spills out in one quick, hushed go. 

Eddie's eyebrows shoot up and he blurts out, "The pair of you!" 

"What?" Buck's baffled. 

A sigh. "Nothing, what did you have in mind?" When the explanation's done, Eddie smiles and nods appreciatively. "I think he'd like that, a lot. And you'll take care of everything?" 

"Yep, all you have to do is keep him preoccupied for long enough, make sure he doesn't come back out into the living room!" 

"I can do that." Eddie's grin grows wider and it makes Buck preen inwardly, because this smile can find him in the deepest, darkest corners of existence and make him feel like their darkness is an illusion, only caused due to Buck himself being the brightest source of light there. 

"Good. So go, I'll finish up here." 

Eddie comes closer and quickly rises on his toes to plant a kiss on Buck's lips before retreating to Christopher's room. This is so new that it's still mind blowing, yet so fitting for them that it resonates in every part of Buck. He holds on to that and hopes that he will never lose the edge of this buzz. 

He works around the house quickly and efficiently, first in the kitchen to do away with the leftovers from their meal, then in the living room to execute his plan. He's been here so many times before this, which made his staying over during this isolation period a lot less awkward than it might have been and only added to how much the move from the guest room into Eddie's bed was a special and unexpected treat. 

He's fully immersed in these thoughts to the degree that he doesn't hear when Eddie and Chris emerge from behind him and nearly has a heart attack when they both cough in unison. When Buck turns around and immediately moves to block their path and field of vision with his large frame, he glares his upset at Eddie. "That wasn't long enough. I'm almost done, but not completely," he points out. 

"Well, I tried to stall some more, but someone was onto me." 

Chris laughs proudly at that. 

"Tell me he at least didn't squeeze the details out of you," Buck begs him. 

Eddie scrunches up his face into what is a clear admission of guilt. 

"Your son is going to grow up to be an evil genius and it's all going to be your fault, because you're too easy to crack and are setting up a bad example," Buck accuses him. 

"You are both too easy," Christopher declares, grinning unashamedly. 

"I guess I was pretty obvious as well, I was a little too happy your dad stayed to help me at the end of lunch, huh?" 

Buck gets a confirmation through a nod and then Chris tries peeking at the area behind his broad back. "Can we do it now?" 

"Sure," he breaks out into a grin and then changes into an overly dramatic announcer voice. "Christopher Diaz, since we can't go venturing into the outside world, we decided to bring you... the whole world, right inside of your living room!" 

With that, he moves aside, his arm flung up in the air to indicate what he's set up. He's used blankets, pillows and sheets in order to recreate a journey around the globe. He'll be the first to admit, it didn't all come out as he would have liked. The sheet that he tied up to create the Kilimanjaro Mountain in Africa, as one example, looked less impressive than he thought it would. The Niagara Falls made out of pillows might also require an explanation. But overall, he hoped it would be the fun they'd have that would count. 

Chris looks around at the entire set up. He must have caught a glimpse of it, but now he gets to take in the full impression. Buck waits for what he'll say with actual baited breath. Then it finally comes, an incredibly soft, "whoa," infused with true awe, right before he makes his way to a Pacific Ocean created out of a blanket and examines its waves. 

"Yeah?" Buck's heartbeat and the way he takes in a lungful of air again tell him that he's been way too nervous over this reaction. "You like it?" 

"I love it!" Chris looks up from the ocean and exclaims excitedly. "Show me everything?" 

"Everything!" Buck echoes with enthusiasm and reverberates with pure joy as he pulls Eddie in along with them and they go on a journey around the globe, climbing mountains, visiting pyramids, sailing in rivers and cutting their way through jungles. 

Chris is insatiable during this, his curiosity and thirst for knowledge about foreign places is a thing to behold. Another thought hits Buck. This little boy might grow up to be an explorer or a scientist of some kind who must travel around the most distant spots on Earth in order to confirm or dispel his theories. It's as likely a possibility as writer or painter. Buck wonders for a second if this is what all parents do with their kids. If it is, he's not surprised he's doing the same thing. Christopher has meant more to him than he could explain for a long time now and this, maybe this is one more way in which the puzzle that the three of them make up simply fits. 

When it starts to get late and Chris is showing signs of fatigue, Eddie checks the time on his phone. It's already evening, they've glossed over the moment when they had to turn on the lights and simply went on touring the world that Buck built. But now the general atmosphere of exhaustion signals that it's nearing bed time and they're little more than a pile of limbs on the sheet and pillow covered couch. 

"I think," Eddie says slowly, like his pace is dictating by calculations running through his mind, "that the two of you need to rest for a few minutes, but after that... Chris, then I want you to brush your teeth. Can you do that for me while I fix some stuff in the backyard, superman?" 

"Sure. And I'll come show you those pearly whites," Chris agrees. 

"Wait, you'll be working in the backyard when it's already dark?" Buck frowns, "Eddie, can't this be fixed in the morning?" Honestly, calling it a backyard is pushing it. It's more like a foot by foot piece of grass covered land, enclosed by walls from all directions. They usually don't go out there at night precisely because it's got almost no illumination, other than what falls on it from inside the kitchen. 

"It's nothing big and I want to make sure I don't forget it. If I postpone, there's no telling when I'll remember this again." Eddie quickly lands a peck on Buck's lips. "You'll come and show me your pearly whites together with Chris?" 

Buck rolls his eyes at this, but he doesn't push his point, even though he still thinks his boyfriend is exaggerating his own forgetfulness. Probably to use it as an alibi whenever one might come in handy. 

As Eddie leaves for the backyard, Buck scoots closer to Chris, who without being prompted cuddles up to him. 

"Thank you for giving me the world," The room is quiet enough for the words to come across clearly even without being spoken too loudly. 

Buck can't handle his heart's reaction. After being at a loss for an instant, he kisses the top of Christopher's head and in a matching tone, replies, "You deserve it." 

"Teeth brushing time," Chris uses the words Eddie usually says and moves on unceremoniously, slinking off the couch to pick up his crutches, while Buck has to smile at how quickly kids can sometimes go from heart-melting to practical. It's a part of their strength, he supposes. 

When that's done, they go out into the backyard together and the sight there catches Buck by surprise. Eddie hasn't been fixing anything. Rather, he's got two folding chairs that he brought outside and arranged in a row. Over them, he's placed a string of fairy lights, so the place isn't completely dark. 

"Eds?" Buck's confusion is self-evident. 

"The pair of you, seriously. As it turns out, you both had a surprise in mind today for the other one. So Mr. Buckley," Eddie gestures at one of two the chairs. "Won't you please take a seat for the world premiere of a song that Mr. Christopher Diaz here has composed for you?" 

"I'm..." Buck starts, but he's too stunned to continue, so he takes his seat instead. 

"Ready, Maestro?" Eddie asks Chris and when he gets a hummed consent, he sits down on the chair that's right next to Buck's. 

With a small stage cough first, as preparation, Christopher begins to sing and Buck instantly recognizes the melody he woke up to that morning. He follows the invented lyrics that he couldn't make out before. It's a song of fairytales and dragon slayers, dangerous quests and happy endings. Buck's pretty sure he's making things up, but it seems to him as if spring is dancing across Chris' eyes while he sings it, all the charm of a childhood that chooses the resilience of magic where reality can be harsh. And maybe the main two dragon slayers that the song is about sound a lot like Buck and Eddie, which adds an extra layer of loveliness to the song. When it's over, there's no movement, until finally and just like at a concert, Eddie starts clapping and immediately, Buck joins in. He assumes the fairy lights aren't strong enough for Chris to see the tears he has in his eyes. 

Once the clapping stops, he raises a question. "The song, you wrote it for me?" 

"You've been sad the last two days. I wanted to make you happy." 

"You saw that?" Buck would have never guessed. "Come here," he can't help himself and opens up his arms wide and Chris fits right into the hug. "It's like you gave me my gift right back," he finally says. 

"This isn't the world, Buck." 

"It is to me." 

"He started working on it yesterday when you were in the shower," Eddie adds, "and while you were asleep this morning." 

"Is that why you let me sleep in? Wow, you've been playing cons on both of us." 

"I'm going to be nice and only vaguely point out that he was able to figure you out within seconds, while you were clueless for a little over a day." 

"Thank you, very kind of you." 

"Always at your service," Eddie's not even a tiny bit perturbed by Buck's response. He turns back to Chris, "Okay, buddy. Time for bed. Go get changed into your pajamas." He gets a hug as well before his son walks back into the house. 

"We both noticed, by the way." 

"You did?" Buck was so convinced he was able to keep his sadness in the last couple of days to himself. He didn't want to worry anyone, nor say anything that might cross any boundaries too soon after he and Eddie got together and agreed that they're dating now. Well, that in effect, they have been for a while, but that from here on out, they get to do so explicitly and with the bonus of sex. 

They've already turned on their chairs to face each other. Their knees are pushed lightly together and it centers Buck as Eddie places one hand back on his thigh, similar to what he did during lunch. 

"I did. Should I have said something? I wanted to, but I don't know how to make it better that you can't go outside because of us..." 

"That's not it," Buck shrugs. "Obviously, that's not easy and it's getting to all of us, isn't it? But I think..." Here's where he hesitates. This is where he says what he wants and that's terrifying, because more often than not in life, he's lost the things that he valued and tried to hold on to the most. "I think that what really bothers me is that I really love being here with the two of you and I don't really want it to end once we no longer have to isolate... Eddie, what if it doesn't have to?" He didn't intend to say that last part, but there it is anyway, his secret wish, charging out of him like a bull about to destroy everything in sight. 

"Buck, did you just invite yourself to move in for good?" 

His face falls. Oh God, it is as bad as he suspected it would be. This was too much to confess, too soon. "It does sound crazy, doesn't it?" he grimaces. "Never mind, forget it..." 

"Actually, it sounds like something I've been thinking about a lot. I didn't know if you'd want this. Moving in with me basically two seconds after we made it official, when I have a kid and when we haven't even gone out on a proper first date, yet! It's not the conventional way relationships are supposed..." 

"Screw conventional! You wanted me to move in with you?" Buck cuts him off, incredulous. "We actually want the same thing?" 

Eddie takes the fairy lights string off the back of the chairs and puts it around Buck's neck. "With all the surprises we had today, that I want you shouldn't be one." Eddie leans in closer and the fairy lights reflect in his eyes, before he trails the tip of Buck's nose with his own. Then, ever so delicately, almost as if it were their first time, he presses their mouths together. The kiss flutters across Buck's lips and heart: how right they are for each other. He opens up for it, makes it deeper, wants it to be as deep as their connection. 

When they pause for air, Eddie quietly begins to whisper into his ear, "Buck, will you please..." 

He's so happy, he doesn't even want to wait for the end of the question. "Yes. When it's us, it's yes. Always."


End file.
